Collaborative News

'A Taste of Peach' Gives Abused Children a Taste of Hope

A hot rainy Saturday in July didn't deter attendees from coming out to participate in the first Taste of Peach health fair in Fort Valley. Peach County Family Connection hosted the event to promote and raise funds for its fight against child abuse.

"Our goal was to raise funds to bring programs to the community that will directly impact the issue of child abuse," said Adrianne "Frankie" Towles, Peach County Family Connection coordinator and event coordinator. "We also wanted a way to inform the community, and the public at-large, of our collaborative's efforts to raise money for sustainability and to support special activities or programs."

A portion of those funds will go toward a child abuse prevention program for next year's Child Abuse Prevention Month. The tentative plan includes a guest speaker, activities for children and Response-Able parenting sessions.

"Our underlying principle," said Ms. Towles, "is preventing child maltreatment among high-risk families by providing a comprehensive array of coordinated local services and community building opportunities." She credited the success of Taste of Peach to the collaborative partners who participated in the event:

• DFCS
• Kay Center
• Boys & Girls Club
• Step 2
• Peach County Board of Ed.
• Peach County Health Dept.
• Peach Medical Center
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters

"I also extend special thanks to Mrs. Nella Jenkins; Mrs. Charlotte King-Braswell, Collaborative co-chair; Mrs. Sarah Osborne, Collaborative chair; Dr. Larry Conrad; Mrs. Ella Conrad; Ms. Carolyn Clark; and Dr. Mahin Pouryagma," said Ms. Towles. "These concerned community citizens gave tirelessly and endlessly of their time, energy and creativity."

Although Family Connection coordinators usually don't provide direct services or run programs, the Peach County collaborative is one of the few Community Partnerships for Protecting Children (CPPC) counties in Georgia. "The work we do in partnership with this collaborative partner is strong," said Ms. Towles. "Andrea Hooker is the CPPC coordinator."

Last fiscal year there were 53 incidents of substantiated abused/neglected cases in Peach. The following is just a snippet of the work the collaborative and its partners are doing with abused and neglected children, and economically distressed families in Peach County:

• Active Parenting Classes that target two age ranges. The 0-4 classes focus on teaching basic parenting skills, early childhood development, and non-violent discipline. The 5-12 classes focus on helping parents raise responsible children who will know how to resist negative peer pressure.
• Family Team Meetings are designed to help families assess their strengths and weaknesses, and identify steps and goals to positive change.
• Community Garden is located in one of the four economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Peach. All items, plants, gardening utensils, tiller, etc., were donated or purchased by the local collaborative. The community is responsible for tilling the soil, planting, cultivating, and harvesting the plants, which are then distributed to needy families.
• Celebrating Children/Supporting Families is an annual event with food, music, games, and fun activities for children that include water slides, moon walks, and horseback riding. The day culminates with us giving away more 500 book bags complete with school supplies.

"The Taste of Peach was the first major event that we've initiated since I became coordinator in July 2005," said Ms. Towles. We raffled off a new Honda Motor scooter, which went to Ms. Penny Wade of Fort Valley, and we auctioned off some wonderful items donated to us by local merchants and some of our vendors. We raised more than $2,900. Not bad for our first time out."